


On the Mend

by pocky_slash



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Pre-Canon, Sibling Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-25
Updated: 2011-07-25
Packaged: 2017-10-21 18:23:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/228219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pocky_slash/pseuds/pocky_slash
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charles learns that having a sister isn't always fun and games.</p>
            </blockquote>





	On the Mend

**Author's Note:**

  * For [brilligspoons](https://archiveofourown.org/users/brilligspoons/gifts).



> Written for **brilligspoons** who requested, "bb!Charles tries to mend a skirt bb!Raven had torn,  & she rolls her eyes a lot and tells him he's doing it wrong."

In the adventure books that Charles liked to read, in his readers from school, having a sibling seemed lovely. It was having a built-in best friend, and Charles, frankly, could use a best friend. He could use _any_ friend. It was hard enough fitting in while he was struggling with his abilities, but then his father died and his mother went strange and... well. There were more important things than making friends.

But he had a friend now, was the point. He had Raven, who hung on his every word and played games with him and let him practice what he could do with his powers as long as she got to practice on him, too. It was marvelous.

Most of the time. Sometimes it wasn't as great as it was in books.

Because, well. Raven was a _girl_. And sometimes she got bored with his games, or sometimes she wanted to play dress-up or sometimes she was too busy in the doll hospital to help him stage a battle with the soldiers in the den, and then it was just _bothersome._ Nanny was no help, telling him that sometimes girls liked to play girl games or spend three hours trying on stupid dresses instead of exploring the attic.

Three _hours_. They could have explored _five_ attics in that amount of time!

"Raven!" he pleaded, slumping in the doorway of her bedroom as she twirled around, the skirt of her dress puffing out. "You said you'd go exploring with me!"

"When I'm done!" Raven said. "I still have two more to go!"

At the rate she was going, two more dresses was going to take an _age_. There were only a few hours until dinner, and Mother was making them take it in the dining room with her. Mr. Marko was coming over and had a surprise, so they couldn't be late.

He eyed Raven's room critically. If he could get her up to the attic, then she'd _have_ to explore with him. He couldn't use his mind on her--they'd pinky swore not to use their powers on each other without permission--but he could....

Charles lunged at Raven's bed and grabbed Lillian, her stuffed bear.

"Charles!" she shrieked. "Charles, put Lillian down!"

"You've got to catch her first!" he called over his shoulder with delight, sprinting from the room.

He made it to the end of the hallway when he heard Raven's shriek and felt a stab of pain in his mind.

Charles immediately turned around and raced back to the open doorway of Raven's room. She was lying on the floor and the hem of her dress was torn. She was crying, and Charles immediately felt sick.

"Raven!" he cried, dropping to his knees. "Raven, are you all right?"

"I ripped my dress! I hate you, Charles Xavier!"

And then she pushed him out of the doorway, still sobbing, and slammed the door.

Charles felt worse than awful.

He retreated to his room and sat on the edge of his bed. He hadn't meant to hurt Raven or rip her dress or any of it. He didn't want her to _hate_ him. He'd just been... bored. And lonely. And--

He realized he was still holding Lillian. It wouldn't do to hold onto Lillian, not when Raven was upset. Maybe if he just put the bear right outside her door, just ran right there and back, she would find it without Charles bothering her again.

He moved quickly and silently down the hallway, almost before he realized he had made the decision to do so. The door to Raven's room was open, however. Charles cautiously peered into the room, but Raven was gone. The ripped dress was on the floor and the room was abandoned. It took him a moment to focus and locate her--downstairs, with Nanny. She was still upset.

Charles sighed.

He put Lillian on the bed and knelt next to the abandoned dress. The rip didn't seem that bad, up close. It was straight along the seam. Charles bet he could fix it himself if he could nick a needle and thread from Nanny's room. And--and now his mind was moving more quickly--if he did it quickly, before dinner, he could show Raven and maybe she'd stop hating him.

It was easy enough to get the needle and thread, but when he sat down at his desk to do the actual sewing... well. Nanny made it look quite easy. For starters, she seemed to know how to get the thread into the little hole in the needle. It was very small and the thread didn't seem to want to go where he told it to go. When he did finally get the thread through, he wasn't sure how to secure it to the needle. He searched the house for Nanny again, alone in the kitchen this time, and pawed through her memories as unobtrusively as possible. It was all right there, how to loop the thread around and tie a knot and how to dip it in and out of the fabric and bring the two sides together.

It was, he thought, glancing down at the bunched up, crooked line he was slowly making, easier in theory than practice.

He was considering ripping it out and starting from scratch when he heard the door creak open. He felt Raven--contrite, but still angry--and smiled, letting out a long, pleased sigh before she even approached him.

"You're messing that up," she said.

"I know," he admitted, turning and holding out the dress. "It seems so easy when Nanny does it."

Raven took the dress from him, careful to pinch the needle between her fingers.

"I can do it," she said. "Nanny showed me."

"No, it's my fault," Charles insisted. "I shouldn't have made you trip. I was just bored and... I wanted you to play."

"It's not your fault, not really," Raven said. She smiled, tentatively. "I don't hate you. You're my best friend."

"You're my best friend too," Charles said and, impulsively, he hugged her.

She hugged him back, and he didn't have to read her mind to know he was forgiven.

"Do you want me to show you how to do it right?" Raven asked.

No, Charles really didn't, but he figured he owed her at least that much, and it was better than watching her play dress up some more.

"All right," he said. "Show me how it's done."

The smile Raven gave him in response was worth the boredom, easily.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [On the Mend (The We Could Leave Remix)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/405858) by [brilligspoons](https://archiveofourown.org/users/brilligspoons/pseuds/brilligspoons)




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